The manifest dance is timeless, ever-present, undying.
A dreamtime without beginning, without end;
Without cause or purpose or meaning;
Neither definable nor explicable,
For it is beyond all rational appearances.
It can never be known, comprehended, or understood,
Except in the most roundabout, circumspect, oblique, effortless ways.
And in that which is intuited, there is no gain or reward.
One simply wanders spontaneously free,
Whatever the course.
* * * *
Taste the tasteless,
Hear the soundless,
Touch the untouchable,
Smell that which has no scent,
And you will see the unseen.
* * * *
All identity is make-believe, a collusion of human scale.
* * * *
Manifestation is simply mask after mask,
Disguising an artful, mischievous trickster,
Playing an eternal game of hide-and-seek.
* * * *
The many teachers of suffering:
Illness, injury, aging, dying, and death,
Would you, could you, awaken without them?
* * * *
You who seek are already that which is sought.
You are the unequivocal source, the mystery, pure and simple.
Discerning it clearly in the everyday, without a trace of doubt, is the challenge.
* * * *
There can be no serenity, no contentment, in the restlessness of desire,
The dread of fear, the isolation of anger, or the arrogance of pride.
* * * *
Occasionally, attentively reflect within ... "I am."
That unadorned thought is the first and foremost assumption.
Contemplate it closely, thoroughly, add nothing to it.
See its subtle movement to the source within.
Those persistent and discerning enough,
Will dissolve into the inexplicable.
The Stillness Before Time
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